I played it safe in the wet, says Giovinazzi

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Antonio Giovinazzi admits that he held back and played safe when driving in wet conditions in pre-season testing this week.

The Ferrari reserve driver was sitting in for Sauber's Pascal Wehrlein at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Wehrlein injured this back in a crash at the Race of Champions last month, but he could be back in action next week.

In the meantime, Giovinazzi was all too aware that crashing the car would win him no favours at Sauber, nor help to open any doors into Formula one.

“A crash can happen, especially with this car, with a lot of grip and a lot different," he said. "But yes, I took it easy. Especially this morning when it was a wetter condition."

The track had water tankers soak the track to simulate wet weather conditions, but the experiment was only partially successful. Giovinazzi kept out of trouble and suffered only one major lock-up in his time in the car.

Giovinazzi: 'It was a really special day'

“Everything is new for me so also to find the limit you need to lock sometimes and this I think is what happened,” he explained. “A driver is always in the limit, I need to see what is the limit so I was quite confident.”

Giovinazzi, who was runner up in FIA European Formula 3 in 2015 and again in GP2 in 2016, said his time with Sauber had been "positive".

“I’m really happy with the programme we did, with the team and everything, a really good sensation," the 23-year-old said. "I think it was really important for me to get confidence with the car in different conditions.

"I did quite a lot of laps in the wet, intermediate, slick again. Then in the afternoon we repeat again the programme."

Whether Giovinazzi will get any more time depends on Wehrlein's recovery and what Sauber and Ferrari decide.

"I’m a Ferrari driver, so I’m waiting what Sauber say and what Ferrari say."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.